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In the modern digital marketplace, every brand is looking for a way to boost their visibility online. Without a doubt, one of the best ways to reach more customers is to improve your rankings on search engines like Google. But if you want to get found on Google, you’re going to need to put in some work.

Search engine optimization takes time to work its magic. You can’t just write a great blog and expect the traffic to start pouring in. Instead, you’ve got to be strategic about where you spend your time and energy. Having a plan in place can help you focus your efforts on the most important parts of your SEO strategy.

Whether you are just getting your website up for the first time or you’re looking for ways to optimize your existing site, you can use the 4 steps below to get found on Google in no time:

4 Easy Steps on How to Get Found on Google

1. Do your keyword research.

SEO keyword research is a critical first step to get found on Google. Keyword research helps you identify the keywords and phrases that your target customers use to find brands like yours on the search engine. This doesn’t just include broad keywords that are one or two words long but also long-tail keywords, which are more specific phrases that a search engine user might type in to narrow down their search.

Keyword research takes time, but it’s all worth it when you start bringing more relevant traffic to your site.

Take time to brainstorm.

To get started with your keyword research, you’ll need to brainstorm some potential keywords that are relevant to your brand and the products or services that you provide. This gives you an effective starting point for looking which keywords can actually drive the most potential traffic to your site.

Invite your whole team to get together and brainstorm which keywords and phrases they think potential customers might use to find you online. Don’t forget to include more specific long-tail keywords in your brainstorm.

Remember, this doesn’t have to be a perfect list and every keyword suggestion won’t make the cut. But it does give you a nice jumping off point for narrowing down your keyword list.

Expand your keyword list.

Once you’ve got an initial keyword list, it’s time to expand. There are a few different tactics that you can use to get started growing your keyword list:

• Localize your keywords. If you are a brick-and-mortar store or you target consumers in certain geographic locations, try adding city information to your keywords. For example, “Los Angeles air conditioning repair.”
• Use Google suggest. You know how Google suggests certain things to you based on what you start to type in the search bar? You can use these suggestions as additional keyword phrases.
• Look at similar searches. When you search for terms on Google, you’ll see a list of similar searches at the bottom of the SERP. Take a look at these and see if any of them are relevant to your brand.
• Look at your competition. Another way to expand your keyword list is to take a look at what your competitors rank for. You may also want to consider including some of these keywords on your list.

Research keyword volume and difficulty.

Now that you have a list of potential keywords, you’ll need to do some investigating to find out which ones are worth pursuing. Start by taking a look at the average monthly search volume for each of the keywords on Google Keyword Planner.

Narrow down your list.

Now that you know which keywords consumers are using to find brands like yours online and you’ve got the data to back it up, it’s time to narrow down your list.

First, you need to weed out the keywords that aren’t particularly relevant to your brand. There is no point in trying to get found on Google for keywords that aren’t relevant. This will only have a negative impact on your conversion rates.

Next, identify the keywords that you have the potential to rank for.

You will want to go after the keywords that have a high monthly search volume but lower keyword difficulty. Take a look at which keywords your competitors are going after and consider whether or not it’s worth it for you to try to rank for these keywords and phrases as well.

As you are researching keywords for your brand, keep in mind that effective keyword research takes time. And it’s also something you will need to do on an ongoing basis if you want to get found on Google.

The information above is just a basic overview of how you can get started with SEO keyword research. If you’re looking for more advanced tips, check out our post on keyword research tips that will take your SEO to the next level.

2. Create content optimized for the search engines.

If you want to get found on Google, you’ve got to create content that’s optimized for the search engines. Now, that you have a list of keywords, you can develop relevant and useful content that emphasizes the keywords and phrases that consumers are using to find brands like yours. Your content is what the search engine crawls, or searches through, to find these keywords and deliver the right results to search engine users.

Content is known as an on-page SEO factor, meaning that it is something you do on your site to boost your search engine optimization. Google considers great content one of its top 3 ranking factors, so it’s vital that businesses invest in producing and publishing great content on a regular basis.

Content marketing and SEO are a match made in digital marketing heaven.

Content marketing is not only an important part of your SEO strategy, but it also plays a vital role in helping fuel your digital marketing campaigns. When you produce great content for your audience to read, you are engaging and educating them. Which goes a long way toward guiding them to the next step in the purchasing process.

For this reason, your content should be optimized for search engines but also relevant and useful for the people reading it.

Now that you know why great content is important, let’s talk about what makes content great from an SEO perspective. Content that’s optimized for search engines has the following characteristics in common:

• Long-Form – Though it’s okay to write a shorter blog post here and there, many of the top search engine results are over 2,000 words. Not only are comprehensive posts more helpful, but they tend to hold the reader’s attention for a longer period of time, thus boosting the time spent on page and your SEO results.
• Easy-to-Read – Even if your business is in a difficult or complex industry, it’s important to ensure that your content is easy for visitors to read. Content that’s written in digestible chunks, using headings and bullet points, is easier to read and will boost your SEO value.
• Recent – Google favors content that has been updated. And so do search engine users. The sites that rank at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) offer timely and relevant content. So be sure to consistently update your top performing older posts in order to help them continue to rank.
• Organically Keyword Rich – Gone are the days of keyword stuffing. Today, if you want to get found on Google, you need to use keywords and keyword variants organically throughout your content. It shouldn’t feel forced but rather use keywords naturally throughout the content.

In addition to writing quality content that is recent and naturally uses keywords, you should also pay attention to how you format your content on the page. This will play an important role in how easy it is for search engines to find and understand what your content is about.

As a start, you should use the keywords in the first 100 words of text in your blog post or site page. You should also include the keyword toward the beginning of your title.

In addition, you need to use keywords in a few other strategic areas to ensure that your content will get found on Google. Use keywords in at least one of your H2 headings as well as in the description, meta-tags, and URL. You should also use keywords in the image titles, alt text, and captions, when appropriate.

3. Focus on off-page elements of SEO.

Publishing lots of great content is just the start. All of your keyword research and optimized content will go to waste if you don’t have the off-page SEO to support it.

If you want to get found on Google, you’ll need to do some work off your website to work to drive more traffic to your pages and show Google they are relevant and useful.

This visual gives a great breakdown of the different tasks involved with on- and off-page SEO.

Off-page SEO helps increase the traffic back to your site while also helping you establish quality backlinks. Backlinks are links from other sites back to your content. Backlinks are Google’s #1 ranking factor as they are one of the best testaments to the quality of your content.

If other reputable and relevant sites are linking back to your content, it’s a clear sign that the content is useful and of high quality.

Here are just a few activities that you can do “off-page” to encourage more quality backlinks and boost your SERP ranking:

• Share content on social media. One of the easiest ways to get your content out into the world is to share it on your social media channels. The more your posts are read, the more opportunities you have to expose new consumers to your brand as well as get backlinks to your content.
• Write guest blog posts. Taking the opportunity to guest blog on other sites is a great way to expand your reach and drive backlinks to your content. Find relevant publications and blogs that will allow you to write guest posts on topics that your audience will find useful.
  And even before you apply for a guest posting or write your article, be sure to check out their guidelines first. Although this is quite obvious, there are still some who overlook this step only to be disappointed when their submission gets rejected for not following the guidelines. So keep in mind to do your research first – contact, about, FAQs or the guest post page are some good places to start. Or if there’s really no link for the guidelines, then send them a short but friendly email.Don’t forget to link back to your own site in the guest post too.
• Reach out to influencers. Influencers in your industry have the attention of your target audience. If you want to expand your reach, it would benefit your business to build relationships with influencers and engage with their content. This increases the chances of them sharing your articles with their audience or even backlinking to your content.
• Comment on other blogs. Another great way to get your name out there and drive traffic back to your content is to engage with other relevant blog content. This helps you build relationships with other bloggers while also taking advantage of the opportunity to drop your links in the comments when appropriate.
• Join online communities. Joining online communities such as relevant online industry chat forums, private slack channels, and LinkedIn groups is a great way to meet others in your industry and those who may benefit from what your business has to offer. Join and participate in these communities to share links to your content while building authority.
• Repurpose content into videos. Want to draw more attention to the content on your page? Why not repurpose your blog into a video? By putting videos on YouTube, you are able to reach 3 billion daily active users who are using the video sharing platform much like a search engine. Just be sure to include a CTA in your video that links back to your site.

4. Monitor and test.

SEO is always changing. It seems like just when you’ve got your groove going with your SEO strategy, Google throws another curve ball by changing their algorithm. That’s why it’s vital for businesses to stay up-to-date with the latest in SEO and adjust their strategy and tactics to account for these shifts in best practices and strategies.

Not only are SEO best practices always changing, but so are the keywords that customers are using to find brands like yours. It’s important for brands to consistently analyze their web traffic and look at the performance of different keywords.

You should also stay on top of your search engine rankings and investigate potential reasons why your position might have slipped.

The rules of SEO are always changing. Start with a checklist of best practices but stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends.

When you first get started, use this as a baseline for how well your SEO strategy is working. As you continue to monitor your results and make changes to your tactics and content, keep track of what you are doing differently and how it impacts your performance.

A great way to test out new strategies or see what types of content resonate best with your audience is a little testing.

The A/B test is one of the best ways to see which elements of your content may be impacting your SEO and web traffic. With an A/B test, you start with a control piece of content and create a variation that is much like the control but with one or two elements changed.

Then, you test the pieces of content to see what resonates best with your audience.

If you want to find out what works best for your content, you’re going to have to A/B test it.

A/B testing is a great way to try out different SEO tactics or learn more about what elements of your content perform best. However, it’s not enough just to run some tests.

You then need to take a look at the data you gather from these tests and see what this data says about your current practices.

Once you’ve gotten some insight from testing, you can then apply what you’ve learned to future campaigns to improve performance and boost return on investment.

Get Help Getting Found on Google

Though search engine optimization is certainly a worthwhile endeavor, it also takes time and resources to do it right. If you don’t have the team in-house to get the job done, you may want to consider hiring an experienced SEO company who can help you develop and implement a strategy that will help you get found on Google.

At LYFE Marketing, we offer both on-page SEO services and ongoing SEO management services. Our goal is to help you develop a solid plan and take the steps necessary to get found on Google. Our team can help you boost online traffic, grow your search engine ranking, and improve conversions through strategic monthly SEO services.

Not sure if managed SEO services are right for you? Let’s chat.

Are you looking for new ways to drive traffic to websites like yours?

Most small businesses are already well aware of the power of search engine optimization. Optimizing sites and content for search engines like Google, helps drive traffic to websites, introducing more potential customers to your brand. However, SEO isn’t the only way for brands to increase traffic to websites.

There are many tactics that you can use to help drive more traffic back to your site while building relationships with leads and customers. Some of them might require an up-front investment, while others just require your time and energy. The key is finding out which tactics work best for your business and focusing your efforts there.

Looking for new ways to increase traffic to your site? We’ve put together a list of just a few of our favorite ways to drive traffic to websites beyond just SEO:

16 Easy But Effective Ways to Drive Traffic to Websites

1. Create great content. (And mix it up!)

Creating great content plays a huge role in your SEO. However, it goes beyond that. People are more likely to be interested in visiting a site with helpful, well-written content that offers some type of value.

They are also more likely to share great content online with their own audience. Which can drive even more traffic back to your site. Make sure that the content you create is relevant to your audience’s interests and engaging.

If you want to drive traffic to websites, you’ll need to mix it up when it comes to your content marketing assets. What we mean by this is that in addition to shorter blog posts around 500 words, you’ll also want to create long-form blog posts that are between 1,500 and 2,000 words.

Not only does this help your SEO, but it’s valuable to those who are reading your blog. The more in depth you can go on a topic, the greater chance you have of connecting with a potential customer.

Content marketing is a great way to connect with your audience, build relationships, and drive traffic to websites.

Though most small businesses are able to handle managing blog content on their own, some companies just don’t have the time or expertise to write quality content on a consistent basis.

That’s where blog writing services come in.

If you find it difficult to keep your blog updated with quality, optimized content, you may want to get help from a digital marketing agency.

2. List your business on online directories.

Listing your business on online directories and review sites is a simple way to increase traffic. Most of these sites allow you to create a profile that lists important information about your business while including a link to your website. Visitors will be able to find you on these sites when searching for relevant keywords or products and services and head back to your website to learn more (or even convert!)

Find directories that are relevant to your industry or area. In addition to industry directories like Angie’s List or Thumbtack, you can also list your site on local directories. Many areas have a chamber of commerce site or other local business directory where you can list your business and include a link back to your site.

In addition to industry or local business directories, you should also make sure that your business is listed on review sites like Yelp. Encourage your best customers to leave your business reviews on these sites. Not only will these reviews help your SEO, but they will also encourage those looking for brands like yours to visit your site and learn more.

3. Be active on social media.

Being active on your own social media channels as well as in social groups and message boards is another great way to increase traffic back to your site.

First, you will need to make sure that you promote blog posts or other useful content assets from your website across your social media channels. This will help get your followers to head back to your site to learn more and potentially convert.

In addition to sharing content on social media, you also need to be active in the comments. Answer questions, start a conversation, or even show your gratitude in the comments section of your posts.

Social media users like to know that the brands they interact with are listening and participating in the conversation. Communicating with your followers on social will encourage them to visit your site.

4. Guest blog on relevant sites.

Your own blog isn’t the only place that you can reach your target audience through great content. You can also guest blog on other blogs or relevant sites about topics that are important to your audience. When you write a guest blog, you are often able to include links back to your own site, which helps drive more traffic to specific blog posts or site pages.

The key to getting the most out of a guest blog post is blogging on sites that have similar or relevant audiences.

Once you have found relevant sites that will accept blog posts, you will need to carefully consider which topics are most appropriate for a guest blog pitch. Not only do you want to write about topics that are relevant to your audience, but they also need to be appropriate for the site you will be guest posting on.

And while you’re at it, you can also take advantage of commenting on other blog’s posts. You may not get any link juice for doing this though. However, it still plays a relevant role in your SEO strategy. It helps you to build relationships with audience relevant to your niche, establish your authority and of course, drive interested readers to your website.

5. Invite others to guest blog on your site.

Another way to increase traffic to your site is to invite others to guest blog on your brand’s blog. Having guest bloggers on your site helps you provide even more great content for your readers while still driving new visitors to your site. The guest blogger will promote their content on their own site and through their social channels, which boosts visibility for your own site.

If you decide to start accepting guest bloggers, you will need to create some parameters. For instance, what type of content will you accept and what is the process for pitching this content? Make these guidelines clear on your own site so that guest bloggers can submit the content they think is most appropriate.

6. Don’t neglect your email marketing strategy.

Though SEO is certainly the show runner, when you want to drive traffic to websites, it’s important not to neglect your email marketing strategy. By including relevant links to content and site pages within your email marketing content, you can work to drive more relevant traffic back to your site.

If you don’t currently have an email marketing list, you’ll need to build one.

Start by asking your current customers to subscribe to your email list. You can also include a subscribe CTA on your site as a way to stay connected with those who have visited your website. You’ll need to make sure that you have something worthwhile to send, so take some time to brainstorm what types of emails and messaging you can send to your subscribers to encourage site traffic.

Here’s an example of an email newsletter that links to content on the brand’s site.

A great way to consistently stay connected with your email marketing subscribers and drive more web traffic to your site is through an email newsletter service. When you work with a digital marketing agency to create monthly ongoing email newsletters, you can ensure that you are consistently touching base with your audience and staying at the top of their minds (and their inboxes).

7. Use PPC ads to supplement organic efforts.

While SEO takes time to drive traffic to websites, paid search ads can provide more immediate results. Making them the ideal supplement to organic search efforts.

PPC ads appear when search engine users type in relevant keywords and phrases in the search tool bar. These ads are at the top of the search engine results page, boosting visibility for brands that may not have worked their SEO magic yet for the same keywords and phrases.

Don’t have the time, resources, or expertise to manage your own PPC efforts? Working with an AdWords agency can save you time and help you get more for your search engine ad spend.

Rather than guessing at what works and wasting money in the process, you can hire a team of PPC experts to set up and manage your AdWords account so that you can maximize paid advertising results.

8. Develop a social media ad strategy.

In addition to PPC ads, social media advertising is another great avenue for driving some serious traffic back to your website. No matter who your target audience is, there’s a good chance that they spend time on certain social media sites. Once you find out what those channels are, you can take advantage of the opportunity to reach your audience and drive traffic to your site through social media ads.

Facebook has one of the most killer ad platforms out there. With advanced targeting features, you can narrow down your audience to make sure that those who are seeing your ad are the people who are most likely to be interested in your brand and what you have to offer. You can target based on demographics like location and age or interests that are relevant to your brand.

Image courtesy of Wordstream.

If you need help getting started, learn more about our Facebook advertising services and how they can help you get better results from your social media ads.

9. Use LinkedIn to find connections and build relationships.

LinkedIn can be a powerful platform to help you drive traffic to websites. As the most popular social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn offers its users the opportunity to connect with others in their industry as well as potential hires and leads. Being active on LinkedIn can help you grow your professional network while building relationships with potential customers.

One way that you can use LinkedIn to drive traffic back to your site is by publishing content on the platform. Go beyond just status updates or your thoughts and insights. You can actually use the LinkedIn publishing platform to post blog content that your connections may find relevant or interesting.

This is a great way to build authority in your industry while driving traffic back to your site through internal links.

Another way to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to websites is simply by connecting and engaging with others on the platform. Did your company write a blog you think some of your connections would find valuable? Why not write them a message and share the link? This not only brings more traffic to your site but ensures that the traffic is relevant since you know the connection would be interested in the topic.

You can also share links to your site and content in the comments or in LinkedIn groups. It’s important to not be spammy about sharing links in comments on an individual’s post or in a group.

Only share a link if it’s relevant and the user would find the content helpful. In addition, try to be active outside of sharing links. Answer questions, provide feedback, and offer advice. All of these actions reflect positively on you as a professional and your brand.

10. Answer questions on Quora.

Answering questions on Quora is a great way to get free business advertising online that drives traffic to websites. Quora is a question and answer platform that allows users to ask questions about nearly any topic. Other users will provide answers along with unique insight in the platform to address these questions.

Quora is a great place to connect with leads by giving them the answers and insight they need to address their greatest challenges. In addition to building trust with your audience by demonstrating your expertise on Quora, you can also drive traffic back to your website through links to relevant content on your site.

Quora is a great platform for connecting with potential customers by answering their questions.

For example, let’s say that you encounter a question that’s relevant to your business, such as “how much does a wedding photographer cost?”

As the owner of a small photography business, you can take the opportunity to address this question while also linking to a relevant blog post that you’ve written on the topic. Not only will the original user who posted the question see your answer but so will anyone else who is searching for a similar answer on Quora.

11. Create and share more video content.

We’ve already talked a little bit about how you can increase traffic to your site with quality content. However, it’s important that you expand beyond just written content. Blog posts, eBooks, and other types of written content allow you to go into detail about certain topics, helping you connect with your audience.

But video can also be a helpful asset in enabling you to get the attention of your audience and encouraging them to investigate your brand further.

Studies have shown that people tend to retain information better when it’s presented in a visual format. This fact makes video marketing a powerful tool for brands that want to capture their audience’s attention and keep it.

Not only will videos help you drive more traffic back to your site, but when used on your site, they can help keep your audience on the page, which boosts SEO and leads to higher conversion rates.

Consider which topics might be best presented in a video format. Then, create short and simple videos that are relevant and engaging for your audience like we’ve done with our LYFE Tip videos.

Share these videos on your social media channels and through email marketing, linking to your site at the end to drive more traffic.

12. Interview thought leaders and industry influencers.

One way to drive traffic to websites is to give users a reason to visit. When you interview thought leaders and industry influencers and post the content on your own blog, you are working to build trust with your existing readers while also bringing new readers to your site.

This is exactly the type of content that will make your blog popular while also helping your brand build authority in your industry.

If you think that these types of interviews are only for big name brands or sites, think again. You would be amazed how many influencers and industry experts are willing to chat if you just ask.

Make a list of influencers and professionals in your industry that could contribute something worthwhile to your content. Then, reach out to them through email or social media and request an interview on a certain topic.

Once you have a list of people who have agreed to an interview, you can start developing a list of questions that will help you get just the kind of insights and advice that your site visitors are looking for. Then, you can publish the interview as is on your blog or use quotes from the piece to develop your own post on a specific topic.

Interviewing those who are already well-known in the industry will help boost the credibility of your site. What’s more is that it will also help you increase traffic to your site. Not just because people want to hear what this person has to say, but also because there’s a good chance that the influencer or thought leader will share the interview or article on their own social networks and website. This drives more new and relevant traffic to your website.

13. Host webinars on valuable and relevant topics.

Webinars are another great way to drive traffic to websites. People love learning, especially when it’s free! Webinars are an easy and convenient way to share your insight and knowledge with your target audience.

Even if you are hosting your webinar on a platform outside of your website, you can still drive traffic back to your site by hosting registration there and putting links to your site in the webinar visual content.

Curious what we mean? Check out our webinar here: Triple Your Sales Webinar

If you decide that a webinar is right for your brand, follow these steps to hold a successful webinar:

• Take time to consider what topics you are qualified to speak on, and choose a topic that’s relevant, interesting, and helpful for your target audience.
• Decide on which webinar platform you will use and then work to plan and develop the visual materials you’ll need to keep the audience engaged during your presentation.
• Create a specialized landing page where you can collect registrations for your webinar, including form fields for name, email address, and any other relevant fields.
• Promote your webinar on social media and through email marketing with links to the webinar registration landing page.

To get the most traction out of your webinar, be sure to link to your website and talk a little bit about your brand during the webinar. Though you don’t want to be too self-promotional as the goal of the webinar is to educate, most webinars include some basic information about the company that’s putting them on. Check out a webinar we did with SCORE here:

You should also include some follow up communication after the webinar through email or social media to see if attendees have any further questions.

14. Attend industry conferences.

No matter which industry your business is in, there’s a good chance that there are a handful of conferences or conventions that are relevant to your business. Conferences are a good opportunity to stay up-to-date with the latest in your industry while also getting the chance to network with other professionals and potential partners or customers. When you network with others, you get a chance to get the word out about your business, which can help increase traffic.

While attending these type of industry events is a great start, speaking at these events is an even better way to gain further exposure for your brand. When you speak on an industry topic and provide your own insight, you can work to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry while creating greater visibility for your company’s website.

15. Partner with other businesses.

Another way to increase traffic back to your site is to partner with larger businesses that already have a following and customer base who may be interested in your products or services. Of course, you should not partner with a competitor. Instead, partner with a local business or company that is complimentary to yours for a giveaway promotion.

If you want the partnership to be worthwhile, you’ll need to be willing to bring something to the table. People will be more likely to enter the giveaway if they are going to receive something of value. Consider what you can contribute to the partnered giveaway and make sure that your partner is also providing something valuable. Then, decide how you will choose the winner and deliver the giveaway prize.

Once you’ve decided what you will give away and developed a list of rules for the giveaway, it’s time to create a promotional plan. If you want to drive more traffic to your site, you’ll need to promote the giveaway on your own social media channels as well as on your partner’s site and channels. This will offer your brand the most visibility while bringing more new visitors to your site.

16. Syndicate your content on Medium.

Syndicating your content on other sites is a great way to increase traffic as it allows you to tap into a new group of readers. Medium is a popular site that many people use to find engaging and informative content. It takes just a few minutes to repost your content word-for-word on the platform so that Medium’s readers can start seeing it.

Many users read and engage with content on Medium.

Once your post is live on Medium, you can then share it on your own social media channels. This helps increase engagement on the post so that Medium notices the engagement and starts to promote it within their platform. Once it’s promoted in the platform, you’ll start to see more traffic coming to your site from the links in your Medium post.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to drive traffic to websites. If you’re already doing some of these things – that’s great! That means that you’re on the right track to increase traffic to your own site. Try testing a few of the other tips mentioned here to find out what works best for you. By combining a few of these tactics with a comprehensive SEO strategy, you’ll be on your way to driving more clicks and conversions in no time!

If you’re still not getting the results you hoped for after trying a few of these tactics, it might mean that your SEO strategy is not as strong as you initially thought. The search engine experts at LYFE Marketing are here to help! Our team will perform an SEO audit to identify areas of opportunity while developing and implementing a plan for improvement. We also offer ongoing SEO services to help you rank higher on search engines like Google.

Ready to start seeing more high-quality traffic on your site? Contact us today for an SEO consultation.

Want to know what is SEO and how it works? We’ve made this simple SEO guide for you.

One of the biggest questions that we get from our clients here at LYFE marketing is – what is SEO and how does it work? For businesses that are just starting to build their website or going through a website redesign, search engine optimization or SEO can feel a bit intimidating.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Even if you do not have an experienced in-house SEO associate, you can still start making some positive changes that will help you improve your search engine optimization. With a little SEO knowledge under your belt, you can be on your way to improving your brand’s search engine ranking in no time.

Below, we’ll provide an answer to the million dollar question – what is SEO and how it works? We’ll also cover some of the basics of SEO so that you can better understand how it impacts your business and what you need to do to be in good shape.

If you’re here, you’re probably wondering what is SEO and how it works. Let’s dig deeper.

What is SEO and How It Works

SEO is an acronym that stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of optimizing your website to get organic, or un-paid, traffic from the search engine results page.

In other words, SEO involves making certain changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to a search engine. You do this in hopes that the search engine will display your website as a top result on the search engine results page.

Though search engine optimization can get quite complex when it comes to all the different factors that impact your ranking, the basic process is not as difficult to understand.

Search engines want to provide the best service for their users. This means delivering results on the search engine pages that are not only high quality but also relevant to what the searcher is looking for.

In order to do this, search engines will scan, or crawl, different websites to better understand what the site is about. This helps them deliver more relevant results to those who are searching for certain topics or keywords.

Similarly, the search engines will scan the site to determine how easy it is to navigate and read, rewarding user-friendly sites with higher rankings on the search engine results page.

SEO is the process that organizations go through to help make sure that their site ranks high in the search engines for relevant keywords and phrases. For instance, let’s say that you have an article about how to build a birdhouse.

In order to get your content in front of the right people, you want to try to optimize your this blog post so that it will show up as a top result for anyone who searches for the phrase “build a birdhouse.”

There are many benefits of SEO for your business. By improving your SEO, you can work to expand your visibility on the search engines. This helps you reach and engage more potential customers. By creating more engaging and effective SEO-focused content, you can increase your chances of bringing in more targeted organic traffic.

Factors That Impact SEO

Now that you know what is SEO and how it works, let’s take a look at some of the factors that can impact your search engine optimization ranking. Search engine giant, Google will never give away the exact algorithm they use to rank sites.

However, we do have a pretty good understanding of some of the factors that impact search engine results page (SERP) rankings. These factors include both on-page and off-page factors, which we will discuss below.

Factors that Affect On-page and Off-page SEO

 1. Content Marketing

Before we dive into some of the factors of on and off-page SEO, let’s talk about content. Content is effective in both attracting the search engines and helping your organization make connections with site visitors.

The more quality, relevant content pieces that you have on your site, the more likely search engines will be to rank your pages higher on the search engine results page.

Similarly, the more engaging and effective content you have on your site, the more likely your visitors will be to spend some quality time on your website and maybe even make a purchase.

The secret to creating content that is optimized for both the search engines and your human site visitors is to create a variety of different types of content pieces that are well-written and on topics that are most relevant to your audience.

Here are just a few types of content that you can focus on to help improve your content offering and, thus, your search engine rankings:

• Blog posts and articles
• Social media content
• E-books and whitepapers
• How-To Guides and Tutorials
• Videos and audio recordings
• Infographics or other visual content

Another important thing to consider when creating content for your site is SEO keywords and phrases. These are relevant words and phrases that a search engine user might type in when looking for answers to their questions or relevant products and services.

When you create content around these keywords and phrases, you improve your chances of ranking higher for these keywords on the search engine results page.

Yet another factor that can impact your content, and thus your search engine ranking, is how fresh your content is. Freshness basically refers to how often your organization posts new content to your site.

However, creating brand new content is not the only way to keep your content fresh. You can also freshen up your content by updating posts, rewriting them to make them more effective, or adding new information and statistics over time.

Though creating content takes time and resources, it will more than pay off in the end. Search engines love great content and consumers need quality content to better understand the value your organization can provide.

Start off by creating a few blog posts and work to build a following on social media. Once you have a group of loyal fans and followers, your organization can work to create different types of media to attract and engage new leads.

2. On-Page SEO

The on-page SEO factors are those elements that happen on your website. These are the things that you have complete control over, meaning that you can work to improve these factors over time by following best practices for SEO. This goes beyond just your content marketing to the deeper levels of your site’s HTML.

Here are just a few of the on-page SEO factors that can help you improve your search ranking:

• Title Tag – The title tag on each page tells the search engines what your page is about. This should be 70 characters or less, including both the keyword your content focuses on and your business name.
• Meta Description – The meta description on your website tells search engines a little bit more about what each page is about. This is also used by your human visitors to better understand what the page is about and if it’s relevant. This should include your keyword and also provide enough details to tell the reader what the content is about.
• Sub-headings – Not only do sub-headings make your content easier for visitors to read, but it can also help improve your SEO. You can use H1, H2, and H3 tags to help search engines better understand what your content is about.
• Internal Links – Building internal links, or hyperlinks to other content on your site, can help search engines learn more about your site. For example, if you are writing a post about the value of a specific product or service, you can link to the product or service page in your blog post.
• Image Name and ALT Tags – If you are using images on your website or within your blog content, you will also want to include your keyword or phrase in the image name and alt tag. This will help search engines better index your images, which may appear when users perform an image search for a certain keyword or phrase.

When strategically placing your SEO keywords and phrases on your pages, it’s important to avoid over-optimization. Google and other search engines will penalize your page if it attempts to use keywords too many times throughout the content.

In addition, you want to make sure that each piece of content focuses on just one or two keywords. This helps ensure that your content is specific and relevant. Trying to tackle too many keywords at once may negatively impact your search engine optimization as it often makes for un-focused and thin content.

While site content plays a vital role in your search engine rankings, it’s also important to consider your site architecture. You want to use a website design that makes it easy for search engines to scan or crawl your pages and content.

Building internal links between your pages, creating a sitemap and submitting your sitemap to search engines can both help improve your site’s crawlability and give your search engines a better understanding of your content.

Yet another concern when it comes to your site’s architecture is whether or not your website is mobile-friendly. Many consumers are searching for information and brands on their mobile devices.

You need to make sure that these users are able to view, read, and navigate your website from their mobile device. Not only does this impact the user experience, but it can also affect your SEO.

3. Off-Page SEO

In addition to the on-page SEO elements that your organization has control over, there are also off-page SEO factors that can impact your ranking. Though you do not have direct control over these off-page factors, there are ways that you can improve your chances of having these factors work out in your favor. (But more about that later!)

Here are a few of the different off-page SEO factors that can impact your search engine rankings:

• Trust – Trust is becoming an increasingly important factor in a site’s Google ranking. This is how Google determines whether you have a legitimate site that visitors can trust. One of the best ways to improve trust is by building quality backlinks from sites that have authority.
• Links – One of the most popular ways to build off-page SEO is through backlinks. You want to be careful here as spamming sites with your links is a quick and easy way to get your site banned from the search engines. Instead, take the time to build relationships with influencers and fans who create quality content and will link back to your site in their own content.
• Social – Another important off-page SEO factor are social signals, such as likes and shares. When it comes to boosting SEO, you want to look for quality shares from influencers. The more quality content you publish, the more likely you will be to get people to share your content with others.

Though you do not have direct control over what happens outside of your organization, you can increase your chances of improving off-page SEO simply by creating quality content that others will find valuable.

The more relevant and interesting your content is, the more likely others will be to link to your content and share it on social media. The more people trust your content, the more the search engines will as well.

Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO

When it comes to SEO, there are two different approaches that organizations take to optimizing their sites for the search engines – black hat vs. white hat SEO.

Some organizations are only interested in SEO so that they can rank their content quickly and make some money in the short-term. Black hat SEO involves tactics that focus on optimizing content only for the search engines.

This means that organizations are not considering the human visitors that will read and navigate their site content. These organizations will bend or break the rules in order to improve their site rankings to make a quick buck.

In the end, this approach to SEO produces pages that are often difficult for people to read and look a whole lot like spam. Though the sites may rank more quickly than those that are optimized properly, these sites are often penalized or banned by search engines rather quickly.

Overall, this get-rich-quick approach to SEO ruins the organization’s chance of building a site that is sustainable and able to bring in new leads for years to come.

On the other hand, white hat SEO is an effective approach to optimizing your website for search engines and building a sustainable business online. This approach to search engine optimization involves focusing on the human audience that will be clicking on and reading the site’s content.

The goal of this type of SEO is to produce the best content possible on a site that’s easy to read and navigate while also following the search engine’s rules for optimization.

It’s important to note that though black hat SEO tactics might help you rank quickly, it is inevitable that the search engines will eventually figure out what you are doing and penalize your site.

Depending on the severity of the offense, your site may not be able to come back from the penalties. The only way to build a sustainable online business that will bring in more organic traffic over time is to follow SEO best practices and create effective content that your visitors will find valuable.

What is SEO and How it Works: Final Takeaways

After learning more about what is SEO and how it works, you can now work to make changes to your site in order to improve your SEO and boost your rankings on the search engine results page.

Remember, there are a lot of factors that impact your SEO ranking, but the most important thing to consider is whether your content is valuable and relevant to your intended audience.

Keep in mind that search engine optimization takes time to work its magic. You won’t experience the benefits of SEO overnight. In fact, it may take months to enjoy the results of your hard work.

However, following SEO best practices by creating quality content that’s focused on helping your human visitors is the best way to build a sustainable online business that will continue to bring in new organic site traffic for years to come.

Need help building your SEO? If you’re not happy with your search engine rankings, it may be time to call in an Atlanta SEO company. The talented team at LYFE marketing provides quality SEO services that will help you improve your search engine rankings and bring in more relevant organic traffic to your website.

Call us today to get started: 855-249-9969.